“Failure is not the opposite of success. It is the stepping stone to success.” - Arianna Huffington

If you’ve attended Stacklist panels in the past, you’re accustomed to panels, case studies and presentations. On January 16th, we’re changing it up! Inspired by TheMoth, TED and tens of thousands of years of humans telling stories, we’re hosting a night of storytelling at Stacklist.

And it’s all about failing.

Why failure? Because at Stacklist we try to deliver lessons and advice that will help early-stage founders. And there are few richer sources than a failure. We also think that many of you perceive yourselves to be on the verge of failure. Some of you are wrong. Some of you are right. Either way, it’s not irrational; the nature of entrepreneurship, startups and small business is risk - and failures, large and small, are inevitable.

So please join us on January 16th for a night of storytelling! And hear from founders about times they’ve failed as entrepreneurs and the lessons they’ve learned from it. You’ll leave with advice and inspiration to help you on your own entrepreneurial journey!

About the speakers

• Keenan D. Williams is Co-founder & President of REZI (W17). REZI helps landlords find high quality, long-term tenants in 48 hours. They use proprietary technology, analytical tools and financial products to improve the rental experience for landlords and tenants alike. Prior to launching REZI, Keenan was the AVP at Auction, where he worked on partnerships to finance CRE acquisitions.
• Dan Reich is Co-founder & CEO of Troops, a venture-backed technology company that is building a mobile-first, intelligent CRM. In early 2015 he was also selected to receive an Early Career Award by a vote of the College of Engineering Leadership Council at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. Dan has started and been involved with companies that have collectively raised over $100M in venture capital and have exited for close to $1B in M&A, including companies like Buddy Media, Spinback and Lotame. As a result, he has extensive experience in startups, technology, business operations, financing, management, and scaling large teams.
• Alanna Gregory is Managing Partner at Constellation, bringing great products to scale with custom growth strategies and data-driven marketing. Constellation leverages a deep understanding of product and marketing, implements growth strategies across the entire funnel, and hones in on winning tactics for growth. Recent industries include travel, ecommerce, subscription, B2B SaaS & more. Alanna also serves as an Independent Consultant & Advisor, consulting to the startup tech (consumer + B2B saas) and beauty industries.
• Jonathan Salama is CTO and Co-founder at Transfix, a leading online freight marketplace that brings immediate capacity and guaranteed reliability for those seeking smarter, lower cost ways to move freight. Prior to launching Transfix, Jonathan was an early addition to the core engineering team at Gilt Groupe, where he transitioned to a dynamic leadership role after 4 years. There, he was responsible for managing a team of skilled engineers tasked with developing and enhancing the technology and software infrastructure that power the platform. Jonathan also held the position of lead software engineer at Cherry, an on-demand car wash startup that was later acquired by Lyft. Jonathan and his co-founder, Drew McElroy, are reinventing the $700 billion market through innovative technology and deep understanding of the industry. Transfix provides instant pricing, unparalleled service and visibility to some of the world’s largest retailers, food & beverage manufacturers and consumer products producers. Top carriers across the country trust Transfix to provide them with reliable jobs, easy tools, effortless communication and quick payments. Transfix has raised more than $78.5 million in funding from top venture capitalists including New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Canvas Ventures, and Lerer Hippeau.
• Jeff Wald is Founder of Work Market, an enterprise software platform that enables companies to efficiently and compliantly, organize, manage and pay freelancers (purchased by ADP). Jeff has founded several other technology companies including Spinback (eventually sold to salesforce) He is an active angel investor and startup advisor, as well as serving on numerous public and private Boards of Directors. Jeff holds an MBA from Harvard University and an MS and BS from Cornell University. Jeff is the author of "The Birthday Rules" and the upcoming book "The End of Jobs: The Rise of the Agile Company and the On-Demand Worker”. Jeff was named “One of the 100 Most Influential People’ in Staffing” by the Staffing Industry Analysts in 2017 & 2018.
• Edward Chiu is the CEO of Catalyst, an intuitive SaaS platform designed to help Customer Success Managers more efficiently manage their customers. Previously he built and led the customer success organization for DigitalOcean, one of the fastest growing cloud companies in the world with $100M+ in revenue and 1M+ customers.
• Amber Berger is Co-Founder of Salthaus, a social wellness experience empowering all ages to engage in wellness together. An urban oasis providing Halotherapy, a 100% natural treatment that reduces stress and anxiety, strengthens immunity, improves skin conditions, and helps regulate sleep.
• Punsri Abeywickrema is the CEO and founder of Cloud of Goods, a fast growing eCommerce startup that envision building the world's largest equipment rental platform. Recognized as an authority in the growing sharing economy trend, Punsri has been a force behind the Sharing economy since its inception. Punsri has been interviewed by dozens of technology, business, and mainstream media and he has won many prestigious tech & innovation awards. Punsri is a serial entrepreneur who prior to founding Cloud of Goods, held positions in software, operations, and management roles with familiar names such as LinkedIn, PayPal, Sephora, Oracle, and Zynga.
• Shana Vieira is Founder at INVY, a holistic inventory optimization tool to help users digitally manage their belongings, anywhere at any time. Through her passion for organization, Shana developed her first Web App, ClosIT in 2017, which was meant to help women feel less stressed through the simple organization of their closets. Throughout initial surveys, and subsequent user trials and testing, she soon discovered a broader need to digitize household organization and personal inventory management. Prior to founding INVY, Shana developed extensive experience in marketing, strategic planning, and program management through a variety of leadership roles in sectors such as online gaming, non-profit fundraising, infrastructure planning and development, civic engagement, emerging tech product roll-out, and public relations crisis management.

Schedule

6:30 - 6:50: Drinks & Networking
6:50 - 7:50: Panel
7:50 - 8:15: Audience Q&A
8:15 - 9:00: More Drinks & Networking

About us

Stacklist hosts startup events in NYC to help entrepreneurs learn from successful founders & experts. Previous speakers have included the founders of Greenhouse, Movable Ink, x.ai, and Techstars. You can find all of our past events and speakers here!

If you have any questions, please email me at danny@stacklist.com.

Our Partners

Adeva is an exclusive, on-demand developers network that connects the world's best engineers with leading enterprises and startups. We identify the best remote engineers and pair them with companies as distributed team members.

Adeva enables its partners to:

• Accelerate Growth
• Reduce Costs
• Minimize time spent interviewing and on-boarding

Find out more about Adeva here.

Thanks to Alley powered by Verizon for hosting our event. Alley powered by Verizon locations are developed by Verizon, the world’s leading technology company, in collaboration with Alley, a membership-only community workspace for creators. Each location is a curated community powered by the emerging technologies and thought-leadership of Verizon.

Audio transcripts, videos and photos will be taken at the event. As an attendee, you acknowledge that such recordings, videos and photos may be used for promotional or marketing purposes.